Do you want to know how great story endings are made?
Every story has a beginning and an ending. Sometimes, it is hard for writers to start the story; but most of the time, it is even harder to finish it.
Story endings matter. They tie up loose ends or leave questions behind. If you are an avid reader, you want stories that will give you some sense of closure. You want to know what happens to the characters you invested in, whether they reach their destinations or accomplish their goals. Endings tell us whether or not the purpose of the story has been met and new meanings for the characters have been created. Some books even bank on delivering a stunning conclusion that will make us realize how great what we are reading is. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude is proof of this.
What makes great story endings? That is the question every writer would want to answer. Some stories end in comedy, others in tragedy; others lead to the unexpected, opening more questions and making you wonder. Most times, it can be both. Ideally, endings should make the preceding events worthwhile, bringing the characters to new and transformative places. This is where we determine how each character’s choices impacted their journey, making us wonder about how things could have turned out differently if the character just decided on this other possibility. And yet, some story endings show the reversal of fortunes. Other times, the protagonist even becomes the antihero.
Good endings to a story leave us with a warm, bubbly feeling inside. We close the book inspired, hopeful, and validated. Stories with sad endings, on the other hand, can be unsettling. The heavy feeling usually lingers. Other writers employ alternative story endings. This happens when the story has characters whose fates are predetermined even from the start. As a reader, we still want to know how the author arrived at that conclusion. What book have you read that comes to mind now?
Many endings rely on vagueness too. This seemingly unfinished ending leaves us wondering about what happens next. You may wonder why writers take this route. Cliff-hangers—stories with strong elements of suspense and unknown endings—may frustrate us but are also immensely thought provoking. Leaving the ending hanging can leave a longer-lasting impression on us as we pore over it and ponder all the possibilities. There is beauty in ambiguity; it leaves us craving more.
Although we cannot compare genres, let’s get back to the Cuentos. The author purposefully leaves these open-ended questions page by page in her simple storytelling, because her intention is to encourage the child’s mother and parents into telling their own heroic stories of migration. She could not have thought of better and more sensitive coauthors to end her Cuentos. She lets the real protagonists tell their children how and why everything loved was left behind, to bring them to a place of safety and possibility that every child on the planet should have. Indeed, the author could not think of a more empowering and sensitive way to decide on the ending of the immigrant-mother-and-parent story of infinite love, strength, and courage.
So how do you like your story endings? Tell me in the comments below or through Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads. You might also be interested in what happens in my book, Mommy, Tell Me, Why Did You Come Here? Check it out!
Reference
Oulton, Emma. 2015. “15 Books with Cliffhanger Endings That Will Leave You Fuming, Bewildered, and Dying For More.” Bustle, May 20, 2015. Accessed November 6, 2017. https://www.bustle.com/articles/83363-15-books-with-cliffhanger-endings-that-will-leave-you-fuming-bewildered-and-dying-for-more.
